1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio communication apparatus, and more particularly to a radio communication apparatus having a speech recognition function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a radio communication apparatus, such as a portable phone apparatus have a telephone directory. A user operates keys to store a plurality of sets of a telephone number and a name in the telephone directory. The telephone numbers which have been registered on the telephone directory can be read out and displayed on an LCD (liquid crystal display). Also, it is possible to carry out a call originating operation based on one of the telephone numbers which are displayed on the LCD.
However, it is not possible to store a telephone number and a name without any operation of the keys in this type of portable phone apparatus. Therefore, there is a problem that the key operation is very complicated. Especially, it is difficult for the user to operate any keys and to register a telephone number and a name during the communication. Therefore, the telephone number obtained from a counter party during the communication must be noted on paper. Then, it is necessary to store the telephone number and name of the counter party by operating the keys. Also, there is another problem that the user needs to have a sheet of paper and a pen when the user carries the portable phone apparatus, resulting in lack of generality.
In conjunction with the above description, an image and speech transmitting and receiving apparatus is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 3-52482). In this reference, a recording medium 9 such as an IC card and a floppy disk is set in a recording and reproducing unit 8. The names of individuals, company names, telephone numbers, and addresses are recorded on the recording medium. Such information on the recording medium is load in a memory 18. For example, when one company name is inputted, the telephone numbers associated with the inputted company name are displayed on a monitor 3. Finally, one of the telephone numbers is determined and is transferred to a switching apparatus (not shown) through an interface 7 and a telephone line, resulting in achievement of automatic call origination.
Also, a dialless phone is described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 4-47846). In this reference, a user inquires a destination telephone number to a phone number guidance center. The dialless phone stores a response, including a telephone number of the destination, from the guidance center. Then, the dialless phone extracts the destination telephone number and automatically originates a call based on the extracted destination telephone number.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a radio communication apparatus in which a telephone number can be registered on a telephone directory by extracting the telephone number from speech from the counter party.
Also, another object of the present invention is to provide a radio communication apparatus in which when a registered telephone number is read out, a speech is outputted such that it is possible to recognize whom the telephone number is associated with.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, a radio communication apparatus includes first and second storage sections, a receiving section, a speech recognizing section and a control section. The receiving section receives a speech data transmitted from a counter apparatus, and the speech data includes a telephone number. The control section stores at least a part of the received speech data in a location of the first storage section, extracts the telephone number from the received speech data using the speech recognizing section, and stores the extracted telephone number in the second storage section in association with the predetermined location.
Here, the radio communication apparatus may further include an operation section issuing an acquisition start instruction and an acquisition end instruction in response to operations by a user, respectively. The control section controls the receiving section in response to the acquisition start instruction to start acquisition of the speech data and controls the receiving section in response to the acquisition end instruction to end the acquisition of the speech data. When the radio communication apparatus further includes a transmitting section, the control section controls the transmitting section in response to the acquisition start instruction and the acquisition end instruction to transmit first and second sounds to the counter apparatus, respectively. Also, the control section carries out different notifying operations to a user in response to the acquisition start instruction and the acquisition end instruction, respectively.
Also, it is preferable that the speech recognizing section converts the received speech data into a character string through speech recognition in response to a recognition instruction. In this case, the control section generates the recognition instruction to the speech recognizing section and extracts the telephone number from the character string. In this case, the control section may detect a numeric character string from the character string, and determine that the numeric character string is the telephone number, based on a number of digits of the numeric character string and whether the numeric character string has one of predetermined patterns. Also, the control section preferably carries out different notifying operations to a user based on whether or not the extraction of the telephone number has succeeded.
Also, the second storage section may have a first area and a second area. The control section stores the extracted telephone number as a record in the first area of the second storage section. In this case, the speech recognizing section may recognize a data associated with the extracted telephone number from the received speech data. The control section stores the recognized data associated with the extracted telephone number as a part of the record in the second area of the second storage section. Also, when the second storage section further has a third storage area, the control section stores an address of the predetermined location of the first storage section for the extracted telephone number as a part of the record in the third storage area of the second storage section. In this case, the control section may store a telephone number, a name and a predetermined data as a record in the first to third storage areas of the second storage section, respectively, when the telephone number, the name and the predetermined data are inputted from the operation section by a user.
In the radio communication apparatus, when the operation section issues a display instruction in response to an operation by the user, the control section displays contents of the records corresponding to the second storage area of the second storage section on the display section in response to the display instruction. Also, when the operation section issues a specify instruction in response to an operation by the user, the control section displays on a display section, the stored telephone number of a specified one the records which is specified in response to the specify instruction. In addition, the control section may read out the stored speech data corresponding to the specified record based on a content of the specified record corresponding to the third storage area when the content of the specified record is not the predetermined data, and controls an audio output section to output the read out speech data auditorily.
In order to achieve another aspect of the present invention, a method of improving operability of a radio communication apparatus includes:
receiving a speech data transmitted from a counter apparatus, the speech data including a telephone number;
storing at least a part of the received speech data in a location of a first storage section;
extracting the telephone number from the received speech data by use of a speech recognizing function; and
storing the extracted telephone number in an address of a second storage section.
In the receiving the speech data, the reception of the speech data is started in response to a acquisition start instruction, and the acquisition of the speech data is stopped in response to an acquisition end instruction. Also, in the receiving the speech data, first and second sounds are transmitted to the counter apparatus in response to the acquisition start instruction and the acquisition end instruction, respectively. Also, in the receiving the speech data, different notifying operations to a user are carried out in response to the acquisition start instruction and the acquisition end instruction, respectively.
In the extracting the telephone number, the received speech data is converted into a character string by use of the speech recognition function, and then the telephone number is extracted from the character string. Also, a numeric character string is detected from the character string, and then it is determined that the numeric character string is the telephone number, based on a number of digits of the numeric character string and whether the numeric character string has one of predetermined formats. In addition, different notifying operations to a user are carried out based on whether or not the extraction of the telephone number has succeeded.
The extracted telephone number as a record may be stored in a first area of the second storage section. In this case, a data associated with the extracted telephone number is recognized from the received speech data, the recognized data associated with the extracted telephone number is stored as a part of the record in a second area of the second storage section. The address of the first storage section for the extracted telephone number is stored as a part of the record in a third storage area of the second storage section. A telephone number, a name and a predetermined data which are inputted by a user may be stored as a record in the first to third storage areas of the second storage section, respectively.
Also, contents of the records corresponding to the second storage area of the second storage section are displayed on a display section in response to a display instruction. Also, the stored telephone number of a specified one the records which is specified in response to a specify instruction is displayed on the display section. The stored speech data corresponding to the specified record is read out based on a content of the specified record corresponding to the third storage area when the content of the specified record is not the predetermined data. Then, the read out speech data is auditorily outputted.
In order to achieve still another aspect of the present invention, a radio communication apparatus includes, a first storage section, a second storage section, an input section, a display section and a control section the first storage section stores speech data corresponding to a record in association with an address. The second storage section having first to third storage areas. The first storage area stores a telephone number of the record, the second storage area storing an association data of the record, the association data being associated with the telephone number, and the third storage area storing the address. The input section is used to input a data and an instruction. The control section displays the association data of the records on the display section in response to a display instruction inputted from the input section by a user. Also, the control section may store a telephone number, a name and a predetermined data as a record in the first to third storage areas of the second storage section, respectively, when the telephone number, the name and the predetermined data are inputted from the operation section by a user.
When the operation section issues a specify instruction in response to an operation by the user, the control section preferably displays on the display section, the stored telephone number of a specified one the records which is specified in response to the specify instruction. Also, the control section may read out the stored speech data corresponding to the specified record based on a content of the specified record corresponding to the third storage area when the content of the specified record is not the predetermined data, and control the audio output section to output the read out speech data auditorily.